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Many Latino Minnesotans were excited to watch Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny headline the Superbowl halftime show. For some, the “Benito Bowl” was the only thing worth watching Sunday night.

In preparation for the show on Sunday and to celebrate their Hispanic culture and heritage, many attended pregame celebrations and dance parties, like the “Bad Bunny Brunch” at Hola Arepa in south Minneapolis. The restaurant was packed and bustling, as people drank cocktails and bobbed their heads to a remix of Bad Bunny songs.

Latin DJ Valerie Ebertz turned the volume up and smiled, looking over at the customers. Some were singing along to her set.

“It's one of those things where you can tell it's much needed here. So people are just very, very excited to have a space to experience joy,” she said. “Joy is resistance, so it's really important to have a safe space to do that, and the excitement about this event has been over the moon."

Reservations for Hola Arepa's Bad Bunny brunch sold out in hours as fans of the musician came to eat, laugh and listen to his music, and feel a strong sense of community to counter the immigration crackdown that continues to stoke fear in Minneapolis and across the state.

Jazmin Silva, who lives in the Whittier neighborhood, was at the restaurant with her niece. She said she was only planning to watch the halftime show, also known as the “Benito Bowl” to Bad Bunny fans.

“I think he's a symbol of hope, of what it's like to use your platform for something good and not just pretend like nothing is happening,” she said.

About a 10-minute drive away outside of the Richfield Target, about a hundred people gathered in the parking lot to protest ICE and dance to Bad Bunny music. They smiled, clapped and danced to one of the musician’s songs, “DtMF,” or “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”

Some held signs that said “ICE OUT” and “DtMF Before They Stole Our Neighbors.” Veronica Mendez Moore, a member of ICE Out of Minnesota Coalition, was there to make sure protesters were safe. 

She says the goal of the protest is to pressure Target into prohibiting ICE from staging operations or conducting enforcement operations on its property. The demonstration is one of many in the last few weeks that have happened at the store in Richfield, after two employees were taken into custody by ICE.

"We're trying to find joy in moments of pain and struggle,” said Mendez Moore.

She says Latino culture is an important part of American history and celebrating Bad Bunny is standing up for the Latino community, which feels like a significant moral victory right now.

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Nicole Ki

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Latino Minnesotans hosted dance parties and played Bad Bunny music before the Puerto Rican artists’ highly anticipated and politically controversial Superbowl halftime show on Sunday. Some say they appreciate Bad Bunny for using his platform to criticize recent ICE actions, and he gives them hope in a trying time.

Bad Bunny halftime show lifts and gives hope to Latino Minnesotans at a difficult time

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